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ST. PETERSBURG - Hours before emergency management officials ended a mandatory evacuation for Pinellas residents Friday, Clifford Thomas waited in a drizzle outside Sexton Elementary School for his ride to take him home.
Thomas, 40, had arrived at the temporary shelter on 54th Avenue N only an hour and a half earlier from his home at King of the Road Trailer Park.
"It's not coming," Thomas said of Hurricane Charley as he and a neighbor climbed into a friend's van. "I don't think we're in that major of a threat as we would've been."
Thousands of Tampa Bay residents sought refuge from Hurricane Charley in emergency shelters Friday, fearing the worst. But their exile was cut short when the storm made an abrupt and unexpected turn to the east before making landfall.
Officials lifted evacuation orders in Pinellas, Manatee and Citrus counties on Friday evening, although they remained in effect for Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties as of 7 p.m. Pinellas continued a voluntary evacuation and planned to keep its shelters open until 7 a.m.
With the weather far better than expected, many left the shelters before official permission to leave was granted.
Halina Lesniak, 58, of northeast St. Petersburg, arrived at St. Petersburg High School with her husband and his 90-year-old mother about 10 a.m. Friday. A little before 6 p.m., before Pinellas removed the evacuation order, they left for the mother-in-law's house.
"Our concern was 100 mph winds," Lesniak said. "That's why we left (home) for the shelter. We've been watching the news and right now we don't think so."
More than 7,300 Hillsborough and 7,000 Pinellas residents fled their homes for shelters, far fewer than the counties' capacities.
But while some shelters were almost empty, others filled up fast, leaving people scrambling for a place to ride out the storm.
Many of those at the region's shelters had special medical needs. Among those who checked into John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg Friday was Karen Smith, 63, a cardiac patient who has had two open heart surgeries. Her husband, Doyle, 77, brought her from their home in Barclay Estates because he wanted to make sure she would be comfortable during the storm.
"Hurricanes and bad weather are what I'm used to," said Smith, a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II who had been stationed on a troop transport ship. "I was willing to stay at home, but I didn't want to jeopardize her in any way."
At John F. Kennedy Middle School in Clearwater, a man whose leg was amputated sat in his wheelchair, and one corner of the gym was designated for hospice patients, many of them with oxygen tubes. People played cards, wandered the hallways and went outside to smoke. There wasn't even a television set to break up the monotony.
"This is not the lap of luxury," said principal Susan Keller, who spent Thursday night in her office. "This is a school."
But many of the children at John Hopkins seemed content. Austin Graves, 5, who had arrived at 8 a.m. with his mom, Elaine, played with six of his favorite miniature cars. Kaleif McCray, 8 months, nestled in the arms of his mother, Kierra Mitchell, while his brother Jaquez, 1, took a nap.
Others were more restless. David Redlick, 21, and his sister, Rebecca, 23, had trouble keeping their minds on a card game. They had arrived less than 24 hours earlier from Boston for a two-week vacation on St. Pete Beach, but ended up at the shelter after learning they would have to evacuate.
Meals, however meager, were the high point of the day.
"We're definitely not serving any lobster tail," said Sherry Held, nutrition department manager for the Hillsborough County School District, which supplied food to the county's shelters.
Not everyone was eager for the evacuation order to be lifted. Dozens of homeless men and women slept, sat and stood in hallways of St. Petersburg High School.
Howard Dawson, a 45-year-old Army veteran, sat and read the Weekly Challenger in a doorway. Dawson, who became homeless in June, looked up from the paper to listen to the woman's voice chiming in over the PA system.
"We do not anticipate that you will have to spend the night," said principal Julie Janssen.
Dawson sighed before gathering his two bags and heading to the cafeteria for a tuna sandwich, orange juice and fruit cup.
Times staff writers Michael Van Sickler, Letitia Stein, Jay Cridlin, Eileen Schulte and Michael Sandler contributed to this report.